Three basketball players who began the season with the UTEP Miners are no longer enrolled at the university and will not return because they were suspected to be gambling on sports, school officials said in a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

Junior guards McKenzie Moore and Jalen Ragland, both suspended since Dec. 28 because of what Tim Floyd called team rules violations, are gone along with senior guard Justin Crosgile.

Officials said the FBI is handling an investigation of the matter; they said that after reviewing film of Miners games there was not a suspicion they’d been shaving points or betting on UTEP events.

“That’s how I feel right now, like I’ve been kicked in the stomach,” Floyd said during the news conference that included the school’s athletic director and president. He said that he gained the information that players had been betting and informed the UTEP administration; they then forwarded the tip to the FBI.

Moore, of Pleasant Hill, Calif., was the team’s leading scorer at 13.1 points per game. Crosgile of Paterson, N.J., was playing 21 minutes and averaging 5.4 points. Ragland, of Chillicothe, Ohio, was a role player who averaged only 15 minutes per night.